Squalicum football improves to 10-0 with romp

None of Squalicum’s rushers or receivers had more yards than the Storm produced points in their 54-12 Northwest District win over Lakewood.

But, as Damek Mitchell and Josiah Westbrook pointed out after the victory Saturday night at Civic Stadium, the only number that really means anything as the Storm opens the Class 2A State Playoffs is 10-0.

After all, 10-0 is a first for Squalicum, which is in its 18th season of football.

The Storm scored on all eight of its first-half possessions, so it was no surprise how the two multi-sport standouts evaluated their team’s performance against Lakewood (6-5), which came in with a six-game winning streak.

“I felt like we were as well prepared as we could be,” Mitchell said.

Westbrook echoed the thought.

“I thought we hit them as hard as we could, right from the start,” he said.

The team chanted to its fans seconds after the game ended and was already getting mentally ready for its opener in the State Round of 16.

“We’ll be playing W.F. West (of Chehalis) on Friday (Nov. 13) at Civic,” Squalicum coach Nick Lucey said, moments after finishing off Lakewood.

The Storm, which started all of its scoring drives in Lakewood territory, opened the scoring with its most exciting touchdown. Sophomore Triston Smith broke several tackles, reversed his field and scored on a 22-yard scramble that had the large crowd roaring in the rain.

Junior quarterback Garrett Sorenson, who went 5 for 5 for 92 yards passing, threw a 34-yard scoring toss to Westbrook to make it 14-0. Sorenson quickly scored on a 1-yard sneak, followed by Smith’s 2-yard scoring run.

Mitchell’s 9-yard touchdown run made it 37-0 after Lakewood took an intentional safety rather than punt from its end zone. In fact, the Cougars declined to punt on their first two possessions, setting up the Storm on Lakewood’s 49 and 44 when Squalicum’s defense stopped fourth-down runs out of Lakewood’s single wing offense.

“Our defense (which limited Lakewood to a net of 9 first-half yards) did a phenomenal job of adjusting to some things Lakewood did (to try to surprise the Storm),” said second-year coach Lucey, who has guided the Storm to its first two state berths.

He agreed that senior defensive lineman Caleb Starkovich was especially outstanding.

“Our offensive line also did an outstanding job,” said Lucey, speaking of his all-senior line of Andrew Napier, Jacob Burgoon, Kyle Basart, Evrett Turner and Beau Hubsch. “The line really did a heck of a job.”

Will Nickelson scored on a pair of 1-yard runs and Ben Peterson kicked a 37-yard field goal at the first-half gun to finish off Squalicum’s scoring. Peterson also went 7 for 7 on conversion kicks and unleashed a 54-yard second-half punt.

Mitchell enjoyed his touchdown run, but, as he put it, “Defense is really my favorite part of football (at linebacker). In fact, I would rather score on defense than offense.”

The Storm was so efficient, they produced 18 first downs while running only 28 plays for 237 total yards in the first half before giving way to waves of reserves. Smith finished with 45 yards rushing and Nickelson had 41. Westbrook caught two passes for 47 yards.

And what would Westbrook have said had he been told that the team would have more points than anyone except Sorenson had yards?

“I would have said you’re crazy!” he replied with a wide grin, perfectly capturing the feeling of his teammates.

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Squalicum football improves to 10-0 with romp."